What is glass hair?

"Glass hair describes hair that's incredibly smooth, soft and shiny, so that it almost looks like glass. It has intense color dimension and a reflective, high-shine look," said Leo Izquierdo, co-founder of IGK hair products.

Due to the megawatt shine, this hairstyle nearly resembles a mirror. “It’s hair that has so much shine and sheen that it is almost reflective,” explained celebrity hairstylist Sunnie Brook.

And considering the recent glass skin trend (bright, seemingly translucent skin), it’s not surprising that people are branding this shiny hair trend as “glass hair.”

If you feel like you’re experiencing a bit of hair deja vu, you’re not wrong. The glass hair look has actually existed for quite some time.

“Glass hair is a new name for a trend that is making a comeback. It seems like people are getting tired of the beach waves and want something a little different right now,” said New York City-based master hair colorist Stephanie Brown.

In fact, glass hair is pretty similar to a popular hair look called the “silk press,” which is also created using a flat iron.

"It's a blow out and smoothing of the cuticles to give your hair that everlasting shine. If you really want to go back, a silk press is also an old-school pressing comb that my mom and grandma used to heat up on the stove, then they'd take that comb and press the roots to the ends out with some grease," said celebrity hairstylist Takisha Sturdivant-Drew.

How do you style glass hair?

So you want to try the glass hair trend? A new haircut is probably the first step.

“To showcase this glossy look, having a clean, almost geometric haircut will help. Layers will cause the light to reflect differently, so having hair that is or almost is one length will give you high-glass hair,” Brook said.

A clear gloss coat at the salon can help seal the cuticle and create shine.

If your hair is pretty straight naturally with minimum frizz, rough dry it until it's all the way dry. But if your hair is curly or prone to frizz, do a complete blow dry first to help smooth out hair.

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